


Recovery, Love, and Life

by Kalira



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Childhood Memories, Community: trope_bingo, Dracula's Castle, Dracula/Lisa (past/background), Dysfunctional Disaster Boys, Fluff, Heart Flower AU, Light Angst, Love, M/M, Post-Season/Series 02, Trevor 'oh god no not a feeling' Belmont, Trope Bingo Round 14, no abandoning of Alucard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22339459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalira/pseuds/Kalira
Summary: Sifting through the contents of Belmont Manor and Dracula's Castle has turned up many surprises, but Sypha's latest find, as apparently innocuous as it is, may lead to the biggest shocks yet for Alucard when she requests his help.
Relationships: Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/Trevor Belmont
Comments: 22
Kudos: 278
Collections: Trope Bingo Round 14, Trope Bingo: Round Fourteen, Valentine's Spectacular (2020)





	Recovery, Love, and Life

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my Valentine's Spectacular - which, yes, is supposed to be _fluffy_ soulmate AUs, but I didn't go far enough towards future fic for that with these boys, and their backstories are too owch to avoid it entirely. It's overall happy still. Also using this to mark off the space 'friends with benefits/friends to lovers' on my [Trope Bingo board](https://kalira.dreamwidth.org/24550.html). (It's a little bit of both.)

“Hello, are you busy?”

Alucard looked up and smiled slightly at Sypha, lingering in the doorway. “Of course not.” He paused, then lightly tossed the bit of rubble he held away. “Which is to say I am,” he rose from his knees, “but I am never too busy for you. What may I assist you with?”

“Are there any . . . plants I should be concerned about?” Sypha asked, and Alucard’s brows furrowed.

“Plants?” he repeated.

Sypha gestured vaguely, resting her back against the doorframe. “You know, fiendish demon plants that may try to eat me, or anyone else human. Anything like that?”

“Ah, dangerous plants.” Alucard inclined his head in understanding. He froze. “Ah. Yes.” he said, voice almost faltering as memories played out in his mind. There hadn’t been any in the castle when he was growing up, but, then . . . many things had changed in the castle since then.

Alucard glanced back at the scarred stone floor, still stained with blood. Vampire, demonic, and human, in an ugly blend of pain and horror.

“Perhaps you could show me, and I can offer better information then?” Alucard suggested, wondering what his father might have brought into the castle.

Sypha nodded agreement and led him away . . . and right _out_ of the castle. Alucard’s eyes widened, though he didn’t comment as he followed her across the short distance and up into the ruins of the Belmont Manor. A momentary thought - what were the _Belmonts_ doing with demonic plants? - faded immediately with the memory of the kinds of things the Belmonts had kept locked away in their library . . . or had brought home, had _done_ , over the centuries.

“It isn’t so much that it . . . _seemed_ threatening,” Sypha said as she led him up carefully-shored-up steps, “as that it seemed as though it should be _dead_ , if it has been in here.”

As the room Sypha led him to was dark and windowless, as well as blocked off by rubble that was far older than their struggles here, that seemed like a fair assessment. Particularly as it was also deep enough in the building that no _water_ should have been able to reach it.

And yet, there was indeed a healthy-looking plant, in bright shades of middling green, sitting halfway along one wall. Alucard frowned, humming. It certainly looked like nothing even related to any of the demonic botany studies he had made.

Alucard stepped closer. “I do not think it is anything harmful.” he told Sypha, inspecting the plant. Closer, he saw that it was resting _atop_ the dirt in the pot, rather than rooted in it, and frowned, something tugging at the back of his mind.

Crouching by the pot, he reached out for the plant, breathing deeply and trying to find any scent other than neglect, years old flames, and dust. The connection sparked in his mind an instant before he made contact and he froze, eyes wide. Surely-

 _How_ could _anyone_ be so-

“I believe I know what it is, Sypha, thank you.” Alucard said, turning enough to look at her. “It is not directly harmful, but I shall take care of it.”

Sypha frowned. “Very well. Is it magical?”

“It is of no magical interest.” Alucard said diplomatically. Many people had studied Heart Flowers; there was little left to be learned there, and less still if one was too honourable to risk harm. “Succulents are very hardy plants, this one has merely survived beyond even what most of its kind would.”

Sypha nodded understanding, her frown easing. “Of course. I will get back to work, then.”

“Let me know if you require or would like my assistance again, for any reason.” Alucard said with a smile, rising with the pot in his hands, careful not to touch the plant within it. He left Sypha behind, absently murmuring thanks with her focus already narrowing back to the rubble she was sorting through, and brought the plant back up through into the castle.

Once in the sunlight it was even clearer; the plant was vibrant and the narrow, softly-spiky lobes thick with moisture. Even if such a plant had managed to _survive_ the conditions it had been left in back there, it should not look so healthy.

Alucard resisted the urge to stroke one of the little starburst spreads of lobes. It was really, he thought as he scaled the steps back up into the castle, far healthier than he would have at all expected for _Trevor_ , either; and it must be Trevor’s, he was the only Belmont left alive, the only person who might have left his Heart Flower hidden away in the Belmont Manor, though how anyone could _leave_ -

Alucard nearly missed a step freezing in mid-stride. He stared down at the Flower he held. It looked remarkably well-kept, healthy and bright and strong. Not at all what he would have expected, had he been asked when he first met Trevor and perhaps not even now. But. . .

The thought that had just occurred to Alucard sent him racing through the castle and up to the few undamaged rooms they had settled in, through the door and into his own. He put the Heart Flower, still balanced atop the dirt in the battered pot, on the bureau and dug for his coat.

It had been months, _more_ , since he had looked at his own Heart Flower - since before he slept. It had . . . hurt, to look at it, wilting and weak, and _so very like_ his mother’s had been, before. . . Before Alucard had watched her death and then found her Flower shrivelled into ash in their home.

Alucard’s breath caught, his chest tight, and he pushed the memories away as he pulled the Flower from the pocket of his coat. The golden lily was so brilliant the petals nearly glowed with vibrant life and health, the petals springy and arched, the pale fluted lines along them - once they had been yellow; with his mother’s death they had faded to sharp white - crisp and bright.

Alucard sank to the floor, resting on his heels. His Heart Flower had _never_ looked so beautiful, not even when he was safe and happy growing up with his parents, with this castle around him.

He swallowed, rubbing the back of his wrist over his eyes.

_“So, my little one, and no one knows why-”_

_“Not even Daddy?” Adrian asked, tilting his head and staring dubiously up at his mother._

_Lisa laughed, shaking her head slightly. “No, precious. Not even your father.”_

_Adrian huffed poutily, and she kissed his brow._

_“For whatever reason, no one knows why, your Heart Flower will never be so healthy - and so lovely - as, one day, when it - and you - are in the care of someone who truly loves you.” Lisa said, running her fingers through Adrian’s hair._

_“Like Mom’s?” Adrian asked, and giggled as he was suddenly plucked from his mother’s arms by big, clawed hands._

_“Like your mother’s.” Vlad said, smiling broadly and rubbing noses with Adrian before offering Lisa a hand up off the floor. She accepted it, Adrian’s soft gold-yellow lily in her free hand._

_Adrian looked around at the bureau across the room, which held a much larger, paler yellow-white lily cradled in the thorny branches of a small rose bush with no roots. There were roses all over the branches, their petals ranging from midnight black to a deep, velvety red, interspersed with long thorns._

_Both Flowers were very pretty, Adrian thought, and grinned as he looked up at his parents just in time to see them exchange a kiss. Both Flowers were very pretty because his parents loved each other very much, and took care of each other._

_“Precisely, precious.” Lisa said, smiling, and kissed his brow. Vlad led them over to the bureau and let Adrian reach out for the nearest rose, gently tucking Adrian’s lily amongst the branches just below his mother’s._

_He grinned to see it, though it was so very small and not nearly so bright as his parents’ Flowers._

Alucard swallowed hard, crouched there on the floor of one of the few rooms in his childhood home - in what was now, he supposed, _his_ castle - with his sword propped against a chair and Trevor’s heavy, fur-trimmed coat pooled over the same chair and halfway onto the floor nearby.

He cradled his Flower closer to his chest, feeling like he could barely breathe, not quite able to bring himself to turn and look at the happy, strong green of the plant he had just brought up out of Belmont Manor.

* * *

Trevor headed up the steps and contemplated how strange his life had become - stranger still than he had become used to already over the past months. Now he was trotting casually up the steps into Castle Dracula, the doors wide open for him in welcome, as he did every evening, knowing that awaiting him within were two comrades and no enemies.

At least, if his comrades weren’t busy elsewhere. Alucard had been working on the castle - on his family’s home - and got snappish if Trevor lingered too close for too long while he was at it, but Sypha had busied herself in his own home much of the past weeks. Trevor had no desire to return there, unless he needed to, so kept himself at work around the castle, or patrolling and hunting in the forest around them.

He dropped the brace of rabbits he had turned up today on a table along the way and headed up to his room, anticipating Alucard perhaps being there. It was early yet, but there was a chance, and Trevor would appreciate getting his hands on Alucard for a bit before they shared dinner with Sypha, had he the chance for it.

Passing by a heap of rubble - Alucard must have started clearing out a new room today - Trevor shook his head before turning down the least-damaged corridor in the castle, heading towards his room. There were only a few that had been undamaged by the castle’s fight against Sypha’s magic _dragging_ it across the country, the invading army of vampires, the battle with the vampire generals, and the _catastrophic_ showdown between Dracula and Alucard, and then he and Sypha as well, and the three of them had elected to settle in the best of the lot and near to one another. Also, he and Sypha had perhaps hoped more than been able to tell for sure, away from the worst of the old memories for Alucard.

Trevor rolled his shoulders. It hadn’t been a terribly hard fight he’d faced today, but he’d been caught out by some stragglers of Dracula’s army again - the first time in over a week he’d so much as seen sign of any, which was encouraging - and had to put them down. A warm memory flitted across his mind as he stretched; sharing the big bed in that room with Alucard, lean and close, elegant hands smoothing over Trevor’s shoulders and back as he dozed.

The thought made him move a little faster, though there was no guarantee-

“Well hello. Knocking off early today are we?” Trevor asked with a smile tugging at his lips as he stepped through the door to find Alucard across the room, leaning against the nightstand opposite and apparently just watching for him to return.

Alucard smirked slightly, and Trevor raised his eyebrows, putting aside his crossbow and bracing his other hand on his hip. It could have been read as a threat - Vampire Killer hung right by his hand - but Alucard knew him too well now, Trevor was aware. Not that the crazy bastard had ever been terribly threatened by Trevor, even when he should have been.

“ _You_ ,” Alucard began, and Trevor cocked his head, “you love me.”

Trevor froze. “ _What_ the fuck did you-” he choked as Alucard stepped sideways and revealed behind him something Trevor hadn’t laid eyes on in _years_. He would have thought the damned thing was dead years ago. It had certainly _looked_ dead already when he had first left it behind.

“Sypha found this today. I brought it out of the ruin myself.” Alucard said softly, and Trevor suddenly wished to be back out on his patrol being beset by ragtag remnants of Dracula’s army; anything rather than standing _here_ , like this, right now, facing Alucard. Facing Alucard and his own _damned traitorous Heart Flower_. He swallowed thickly.

“I- I don’t know what the fuck you think you’ve _found_ ,” Trevor said, and kept his voice steady by force of will, “but I-”

Alucard shifted again and he flinched, but Alucard only lightly tossed something towards him and-

There was a flower in his hands. Trevor blinked, looking at it, then back up to Alucard with wide eyes. No. There was a _Flower_ in his hands, soft and warm and brilliantly lovely and golden and _Alucard_. Even if he hadn’t been the one to throw it to Trevor, this Flower could not possibly have belonged to anyone but Alucard and Trevor could never have mistaken it otherwise. Damned dramatic- Trevor shook his head slightly.

But it was. . .

Alucard pushed away from the nightstand and took a step towards him. Trevor’s fingers curled around the bright lily, but gently. “You love me,” Alucard said again, and Trevor felt sick and dizzy with a rush of adrenaline, “and I . . . love you.”

Trevor looked at him blankly as he closed the distance between them.

“It _is_ true.” Alucard said, then chuckled wryly. “Though I was no more prepared than you to face it.” he added, shaking his head. His fingers were gentle as they brushed along Trevor’s jaw, faintly reminding him of what he had hoped for on his way up here. The closeness and care offered in those light caresses he remembered and had wanted again.

Alucard kissed him just at the corner of his mouth, then stepped away, hand clasping one of his for a moment. “I’ll let you think.” he said, with a twisted smile. “But whatever you choose . . . if you wish it, that is yours.”

He was gone before Trevor could even have _thought_ of formulating a response. Trevor sagged down onto the bed - the bed he’d been sharing with Alucard for weeks, a great improvement on sharing a patch of dirt or floorboard with him - and looked at the bright golden lily. It looked faintly unreal - just like Alucard himself - and a part of him couldn’t quite believe it was in his hands.

He couldn’t believe _his own_ fucking Heart Flower had. . .

Trevor had _left it behind_ , had tried his best to _forget_ about the damned thing and had he thought about it at all in the years since, he would have thought if it wasn’t entirely dead when he _left_ , it fucking surely would have been by now. Not. . .

Trevor pulled himself up and almost stumbled as he made his way to the nightstand, reaching out a hand to his Flower.

Not fucking _thriving_.

“What the fuck have you been _doing_?” Trevor demanded of it, flicking one of the thick not-quite-leaves. “It isn’t- _He_ isn’t-”

 _And I love you_ Alucard had said, his Flower given to Trevor’s hands. And told him it was _his_ , if he wanted it. Trevor fingered one of the lily’s thick, healthy petals, feeling the velvety warmth of it and vaguely remembering that Alucard would _feel_ the touch. He swallowed. Alucard had perhaps not been wrong about him, either, Trevor thought, looking at the lily in his hands.

Though he had never seen it before, it certainly showed the vibrant health of a Flower belonging to someone who was . . . well-loved. Doted upon.

Trevor’s throat locked and his eyes burned as he remembered watched his father unnecessarily tending the thorny stems of his mother’s Heart Flower. His eldest brother’s brightening after he had fallen in love with the baker’s girl and still further when he had made himself known to her. And the dulling blue of his mother’s Flower when his father was away for longer than expected, when there was no news, only to strengthen again, petals splaying higher and further, when he returned.

Trevor brushed a thumb over his Flower, stronger and standing taller than he had ever seen it, each springy stalk thick and smooth and solidly green. His, too, showed all the signs of a heart that was well cared for, despite the Flower having been abandoned in his family’s home to rot with his memories.

Trevor shuddered and stepped away, turning his back on it once more. He snagged his cloak from the chair, threw it on, and fled the room. Alucard’s bright lily he kept safe in one hand almost without thinking even as he went.

* * *

Alucard woke as Trevor slipped into their room, and his heart eased a little. He didn’t stir, listening as Trevor moved about the room almost silently, then stripped down with a quiet rustle of fabric. He stifled a shiver as he felt the caress of Trevor’s touch on his Heart Flower - he had felt it from time to time all evening - before the bed shifted behind him.

Sliding beneath the heavy blanket, Trevor came up close, warm and solid. He slid a hand over Alucard’s side, then kissed his shoulder. “I do love you.” he said, and Alucard’s breath caught, his heart thumping in his chest.

“I didn’t think I ever could.” Trevor sighed and wrapped his arm around Alucard, palm resting over his breastbone. “I left it behind because . . . hell, it was dead. I thought it was dead. Like everyone else.” He swallowed audibly. “I thought _I_. . .”

When he didn’t continue, Alucard put a hand over Trevor’s, squeezing gently.

“Mine was dying,” he said softly, his voice slightly unsteady, “when my mother died, when my father. . . I saw it withering to nothing then . . . and the last time I saw it before today, it was smeared with my blood as I put it away, then crawled off to hide myself, in the catacombs below Gresit.”

Trevor hugged him tightly, and Alucard drew a deep breath, letting it out slowly and leaning into Trevor’s broad body behind him. Trevor curled a little more snugly against him. “I’ll keep your lily,” he said quietly against Alucard’s hair, and his heart turned over with a flutter, “keep _you_ , you delicate lily.” he amended, and Alucard’s lips twitched as he laughed silently.

Trevor nuzzled behind his ear. “If you want it,” he said, more quietly still, “you can keep it. You’re the one who brought it” his voice faltered, “out of that rubbish tip.”

Alucard smiled slightly. He suspected he knew what Trevor had not quite been able to say. He didn’t argue the state of the Belmont Manor, impressive as it still was - ruin or no - but he squeezed Trevor’s hand again before pulling away a little. Trevor loosened his grip, tensing, and Alucard turned over to face him.

Trevor relaxed again, coming close, hand resting on Alucard’s hip. Alucard hummed, moving to kiss him lightly. “I love you, and of course I will keep you,” he said, teasing gently, “so long as it is what you want.”

Trevor didn’t answer in words, but the slightly clumsy, hard kiss as he pressed their bodies together was quite eloquent enough for Alucard.

**Coda:**

Alucard woke at his usual hour, thought he had slept a bit less than usual, with Trevor sprawled across the bed beside him, warm breath fanning his shoulder and one hand resting across his stomach. He smiled lazily, making no move to leave the bed as yet.

His smile faded and his eyes widened as his gaze landed upon the nightstand, and the Flower he had left there the night before. The vibrantly green succulent had budded, and now bore pink-red blooms just beginning to unfurl from pale blue bases in a handful of places.

Alucard’s throat tightened and he reached down, resting a hand over Trevor’s wrist and squeezing gently. He knew he was risking waking his lover - surely, he thought with a slightly disbelieving twist of amusement, he could call Trevor that now - which he did not wish to do, but he needed the contact.

So preoccupied by the _blooming_ of Trevor’s Heart Flower - had he been so changed by his thoughts the day before? by the words they had exchanged in the dark? - it took Alucard some minutes longer to see that Trevor had nestled his own safely among the stiffer stems.

Alucard’s chest felt tight as he clung to Trevor’s forearm, struggling to catch his breath.

“Alucard?” Trevor mumbled thickly, shifting beside him, and Alucard gasped again. “Alucard? What is it?” he asked, waking rapidly and pulling away to look around the room, wary.

Alucard caught hold of his arm again quickly, shaking his head and pulling Trevor close again. “It’s- It’s all right.” he said, a little wobbly, and Trevor frowned at him, looking angrily concerned - Trevor rarely looked the latter without the former - but settled at his side again. “It’s nothing.” Alucard assured him, gaze darting back to the golden lily among the bright flares of colour.

Remembering a lily like pale spring sunlight safely caged by wildly thorny, twisting branches and surrounded by dark roses.


End file.
